ESSAYS ON MECHANISM DESIGN

Abstract

This thesis consists of three topics on mechanism design: optimal selling mechanisms, optimal information design, and comparison of election schemes. In the first chapter, I propose a two-stage model to explore the optimal selling mechanism when the buyer has an outside option at the second stage. I find that at optimum, the seller offers a first-stage fixed price. In the second chapter, I examine the optimal information disclosure in a two-player all-pay auction with affiliated private values. I show that if the two possible values are sufficiently different, no disclosure is optimal for the auction organizer. Otherwise, some partial disclosure is optimal. In the third chapter, I compare Electoral College and Popular Vote in an election model with two candidates competing in three districts. I show that compared to Popular Vote, Electoral College elects the stronger candidate with a higher probability and generates a lower election inversion rate.